Cosmetics industry tips for growing a business

I love lotions and potions, fluffers and buffers, lipsticks and blush sticks.

If a cosmetic promises to give me good looks, I’ll take a good look.

You’re more likely to find me browsing in the cosmetic aisles of the CVS store in Dilworthtown or the Walgreens in Paoli than in the grocery aisles in the Giant in Exton or the Trader’s Vic’s near King of Prussia.

I am so intrigued by makeup that two of my favorite magazines are circulars published by Mary Kay and Avon, pioneers in the field.

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So far, as you can surmise because you undoubtedly have more sense than I do, I’m still waiting for the ultimate miracle from my assortment of miracle products.

Yes, indeed, I should know better. But there it is.

Apparently, I’m far from alone in my insanity.

According to Shop Smart magazine, an outgrowth of Consumer Reports, the cosmetics industry last year raked in $70 billion in annual sales in the United States. One of the fastest growing segments is the $10 billion segment aimed at men.

The reason for cosmetics’ continuing skyrocketing revenues, in my opinion, is the field’s keen awareness and use of tried-and-true principles of growing your business.

Forget plumping up aging lips. L’Oreal and its competitors know how to plump up the bottom line.

Although you may be selling curling equipment in a sports store rather than eyelash curlers at a makeup counter, the same tenets are universally useful.

“Growing businesses face a range of challenges,” reports the website www.infoentrepreneurs.org. “As a business grows, different problems and opportunities demand different solutions. What worked a year ago might not be the best approach today.”

Some ideas directly from the cosmetics industry to help you grow your entrepreneurial or corporate slice of the economic pie:

Extend your brand. The ultimate of this strategy is Maybelline. Once the purveyor of a basic mascara packaged in pink and green plastic, the brand now has variations that promise to lengthen, add volume, curl, and colorize eyelashes – maybe even do your dishes. Maybelline also has extended into other makeup such as beauty balm skin perfectors, known popularly and weirdly as BB creams. So how might this idea extend to your Italian restaurant? Start serving Greek or Chinese pizzas in addition to the traditional Italian ones.

Keep up with trends. Nude as a lip color is hot right now in all things makeup. Check out the July issue of People StyleWatch and you’ll see it on the lips of the world’s supermodels. Whole Foods, founded 34 years ago in Austin, Texas, ensured its profitability by also cashing in on a trend — though theirs was natural food. Today, Whole Foods has $15.5 billion in sales and 300 supermarkets, including one of its newest on Route 202 near the Chester County-Delaware border.

Change quickly. Lip gloss has had its day, according to my impeccable sources. Apparently, Cupcakes may also be on their last squirt of shiny icing. At least economic analysts are reading that into last week’s closure of a major chain of stores selling these once trendy and gooey delights. If I were a confectionery artiste, I might consider shifting into traditionally sized cakes, perhaps with a spin of baking elaborate, multi-tiered numbers for non-wedding occasions such as retirement parties.

Sell huge volumes. Sam Walton, the legendary founder of Wal-Mart, years ago perfected this technique still shown in stores in Exton, Kennett Square, King of Prussia and other nearby areas. You can still find fabulous deals there on nail polish and other cosmetic accoutrements. It’s difficult to replicate Wal-Mart’s success in today’s more expensive brick-and-mortar world. But, hey, this is the Internet age and you can sell lots of stuff cheap outside the United States.

Open another location. At a time when cosmetics were sold primarily in drugstores, department stores or via direct sales, Sephora opened its first free-standing location in the United States in 1998. And then the French-owned chain did another and another throughout this country, becoming a superstar in the cosmetics field. Kooma in downtown West Chester recently opened another restaurant in much the same way.

Form an alliance. In these highly competitive times, even established firms are looking for new ways to grow. An example: Avon — which originally sold only through what used to be called “Avon ladies” — recently announced an agreement with Sears to place some of its products in stores. Sephora had struck a similar deal earlier with J.C. Penney. The U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) highly recommends this route to profits. “Aligning yourself with a similar type of business can be a way to expand quickly,” the agency reports at www.SBA.gov.

Develop a niche. According to Faisal Hoque, author of a recent Fast Company article called “Five Essential Principles for Growing Your Small Business,” targeting specific customers is essential for success. “The surest road to product failure is to try to be all things to all people,” Hoque writes. At a recent Irish function that I attended at a hotel in Berwyn, one of the exhibitors was a Gaelic company selling cosmetics exclusively for paler-than-pale Celtic skin. Yes, considering the County Donegal origin of my parents, I bought a jar. Does my skin look better?

— Kathleen Begley of East Goshen owns Write Company Plus, which helps client make more money through effective communication. It’s considered the main road to success in business. Begley, who has a doctorate, gives communications seminars and writes for social media. She produces this column packed with news-you-can use tips every Sunday in the Daily Local News. You can reach her at KBegley@writecompanyplus.com. She will respond.